Thoughts, comments and observations about the Chicago White Sox from the Communications Department.

Happy Independence Day

The White Sox are wearing unique camoflauge uniforms for today’s game with two-tone brown hats in tribute to the men and women across the globe serving our country and protecting our freedoms.

Mark Buehrle, who happens to be starting tonight’s game, told Brooks Boyer, our marketing head, that he really wanted the Sox to wear the camo uniforms similar to what San Diego wears. Brooks made it happen and July 4th is perfect.

Ozzie, ever the funnyman, said he thought some of our guys would use the camo tops to go hunting down on Jim Thome’s spread this fall …

There also will be a flyover tonight.

Prior to the game, the White Sox hosted two special servicemen during batting practice and many more will be in attendance for the game.

30 Comments

The trading period looks like it could be explosive this yr. Read they expected it to be slow about a week ago. But Yankees fried, Toronto with much pitching fried, Indians way back, team that want to up grade, Brewers, Dodger, Angels, Yankees?, Big name players and pitchers available, be interesting. Do not expect the Sox to do much maybe Uribe.

The A’s could probably bring up their single A staff and baffle the Sox, that is how bad we are against this team. We better find a way to beat this team the next two days or Minnesota will be looking down at us.

Blanton had 41 wins over the past three seasons so it is obvious he was capable of a good outing.

The A’s are always tough on the Sox and are one of the better teams in all of baseball. I believe they are now 8 games over .500 and they play in the “major” league. No surprise that they have come in here and won the first two games.

About the announcers from yesterday’s posts, Stone belongs on TV but will there be room in the booth with Hawk and Hawk’s ego? I’ll admit, the three games that Stone worked in the TV booth last August when DJ joined his wife for the birth of their child were three of the best broadcasts I have heard Hawk do since he worked with Drysdale back in the mid-80s.

DJ may be a great guy but is weak in the booth. Dave Wills is another nice guy but nothing better than average on the air. And you know that Farmer would talk over him just like he used to talk over Singleton.

Any pitcher is capable of a good outing, true….but apparently he’s been getting hammered this season as evidenced by his record and ERA. I’m sorry, there’s a limit to ‘tipping one’s cap’ to an opposition starter (especially a mediocre at best one this season.)

Nothing like the schizophrenic White Sox to “solve” what ails any pitcher.

These guys looked totally lifeless this evening… like the absolute last thing they wanted to do was play a baseball game (and it showed didn’t it?)

O.K. we’ll see how they react tomorrow…my guess, “it’s time” for the offense to turn south (again)… after all they’ve been doing well for the past ten days and we know like my late father used to say, “the Sox can’t stand prosperity…”

That game was pretty disgusting. Sat in the first row right next to the A’s dugout and it did nothing to make me enjoy the night. I could have sat in the dugout and I still would have rather stayed home. What a terrible game. Crede should go on the DL when Konerko comes off. He looks absolutely terrible.

However, Liptak, Blanton is and has been a pretty decent pitcher throughout his career. Serviceable at the very least. He is capable of throwing a good game and he did do a pretty decent job. I do think that we are going to be swept though. That is the M.O. of the 08 Sox…Win a bunch in a row then get beat 4 in a row…then when we are all about to jump ship they will win 7 or 8 in a row again.

One more thing….Hopefully they took all of those ugly *** jerseys, hats, pants…the whole thing- threw every single piece of the clothing in a big trash can doused it with gasoline and lit the whole thing on fire. Not only did they look like complete ********* in those things they also played like **** in em. Sure it was a nice touch for the 4th of July but I would be just fine if i never seen anything White Sox “army” style ever again. Shoulda brought back the old 2001 Sunday jerseys with the stars and red white and blue. Those look 3000000 times better.

I missed the game last night because of family commitments. I looked at the box and read your above posts. I guess I didn’t miss much. As far as the Sox being swept. That could happen, but I don’t think it will. It is frustrating though when we win seven in a row then turn around and lose three or four. If only we could be assured that the Boys would do that every time…. 7 &3 record is pretty good, but of course there is no guarantee of that. So, just win. Go Sox ’08…. j.k. (off to the links)….

You guys are a riot. 1st place, 7 in a row, 3 days ago we were the best thing since sliced bread and now… we’re completely worthless, get a grip Mark, we can’t win em all, and we are doing a heck of a lot better than anyone thought, especially you. By the way I liked the jerseys, are they going to be available to buy? I will wear it to Blog Night.

Was at the game Wednesday, sat in the front row directly to the right of 3rd base, Crede is playing hurt, no doubt. You should see him coming in and out of the dugout. Also, clearly the White Sox are auditioning Uribe for a trade. Finally, although Lip gets pounded on this board I agree with him last night was a pitcher that the WS should ave pounded.

Well, the game against Duchscherer went better than I thought (being as how we kept Cliff Lee out of the win column the other night) so I suppose it’s okay we dropped one to him (can’t win em all). The game last night was a disappointment, Blanton is decent and is the kind of guy I expect to befuddle this lineup. I’m thinking the Sox will win the next two, but it’s disappointing to see us not step up against a guy like Blanton. The game against Duchscherer was good, games like those are tough and ya can’t win em all.

That is exactly why they trot them out there in uniforms like that. To boost merchandise sales. I was not there last night, but I am sure they were at least selling Sox camo T-Shirts in the store behind home plate. It’s a really nice thing to honor our troops, but there is always a profit to it. Just the way it is.

We are now 12-25 against the A’s since 2004. 7-9 at home. You wanna go back to 2002. Let’s make it 18-37 overall and 12-13 at home. Why oh why do we just stink against this team? Don’t count on winning the next two either. With Danks pitching Sunday you can be assured the offense will stay home. We’d better get a win tonight (last outing vs Greg Smith we lost 2-1 in April) or we will be looking at the dubious 4 game sweep when we see Harden who we have a roster hitting .173 off him.

Well… now, at least, Guillen and Cooper know that there are TWO teams that Buehrle should avoid, at any and all costs… He is now 3 and 12 career versus the A’s… and he has gotten hammered by the Indians as well…

This is not like a situation where a reliever blows a tough save, then the manager throws him right back out the next time to build his confidence back up…

There have been times when certain position players couldn’t hit a starting pitcher with a boat oar, let alone a baseball bat… and they knew it, so the manager would give them that game off… Why not do the same thing in a case like this?

And for all of you in the Chicken Little “THE SKY IS FALLING, THE SKY IS FALLING ” society…

Remember before the season started… when everybody and their gramma picked the boys for third or fourth place in the Central?… and Minnesota to be right there alongside, watching the dust of the Tigers and Cleveland?…

This is NOT 2005… not YET, at least… I am well aware of that… and I am also well aware that the team has, perhaps, played well over their skiis so far…

What I am trying to say is… the Twinkies HAVE to start playing on the road SOMETIME… and they also have to start playing major league competition sometime, and not the dregs of the leagues…

Believe it or not, Ripley… Minnesota is due for a Humpty Dumpty fall… and SOON…

The boys just have to get their collective heads out of their collective butts… and see what happens…

Finally… Mommy Mac… Donna, I am almost afraid to ask this…but, what the heck?… Just how far back does Kevin’s baseball knowledge go?… and should kindly old man Q think about educating him on the history of the sport?

Farmer has gotten use to the “power” that a number one PBP man has… the same power that Hawk has had for nearly 20 seasons… It isn’t going to be easy for ANYONE who is in the booth with either of them… I think that Stone Pony has been good for grumpy old No. 22, because he was a fellow pitcher, in the same era… Singleton was brought in on the cheap(and I DO mean CHEAP) by Score management… as the old potato chip commercial said, “He tried, but he couldn’t do it.” … The same can be said for DJ…
He was NOT Paciorek, and he knew it… it took a while for him to penetrate Hawk’s confidence the way that Paciorek did… If they bring Dave Wills back… I know damn well HE is going to want to be Number One on radio… if Stone Pony goes to TV… and I also know that it will be a ego tussle supreme when he and Farmio wrestle for control of the booth and the broadcasts…

Now, back to on-field action…

What does anyone want to bet that the Sox BURY Harden tomorrow?… That is just the way this topsy-turvy season has gone to date… lose to nobodies, get clobbered by the weak sisters…then do well against the really good teams/players/pitchers…

People have been expecting the Twins to “fall” for weeks. Their record in the last 14 games? 12-2.

Thank you.

These guys aren’t going anywhere. Their M.O. this decade proves that. And they’ve got the Sox seven times in the House of Horrors starting at the end of the month.

Now I will say their schedule is a lot tougher this month, a LOT tougher and I hope they do fall back….but I wouldn’t count on it and if the Sox OR THE FANS, are thinking this way, that’s a very dangerous situation.

Let’s see if the Sox decide to show up tonight or if they are going to take another night off. If they want to do that, I have no problem with it….of course it would help if they had oh, maybe an eight game lead instead of a paper thin one like they have now.

By that, I mean… after scuffling over an entire season, or a period of time… SUDDENLY, UNFORTUNATELY… everything he has been taught kicks into gear… and your team is either the beneficiary, or the victim, of it…

Listen liptak you stroke…i never said Blanton is an all star but he isn’t a nobody either. He has had very good seasons in the past and this offseason was highly sought after by a lot of clubs. Has he been good this year? not by a long shot. Would it shock anyone if he turned it around and had a good second half? No. You are starting to disgust me more than Rob Mackowiak. The team wins 7 in a row and then have 2 tough outings and you are ready to throw em in front of the bus. You disappear when things are going good and post 50 times when things are going bad. When they were choking a 15 game lead in 2005 I was having a heart attack…and i believe it was justified…but i was just as fired up when they beat the tigers and indians going into the playoffs. Personally I think you want the sox to lose. That is all

I don’t think anyone on this thread called Blanton an All Star. I think serviceable and decent were the words attached to him. Yeah, his ERA ain’t grand, but like TQ said, the season has been topsy turvy, not a 2005 repeat. Just looking at Blanton’s numbers got me thinking we’d lose to him. So what. The Sox showed up against Duchscherer, what about this goofy-*** offense has made any sense this season. It is their season to waste, not worrying about the twins or anything else, too much I can’t help.

As far as Smith, I think the Sox’ll get off on him, and then the way this team has changed it up on guys like CC Sabathia, I think we may be due for win against Harden. Make sense? NO, but then again what has this year…

My best guess is that the Sox hitters need a whole new approach to hitting , off speed pitches. Ex. last two games, example Byrd handcuffs them, but got hammered by the twins last outing. After a game or so getting handcuffed by off speed stuff, the sox hitters may lose confidence and go on a slide , finally rebounding and going on a roll. Just trying to actually figure out what is up , not that sure ,but I would recommend , going up to the plate looking for off speed stuff and hitting opposite way and up the middle. The teams may know the Sox weaknesses and are throwing a lot of slow stuff. Could be the billy beane knows some Sox weakness and tells the manager what he wants, again , just a guess. But we never seem to fair well against certain teams, it maybe the way those teams pitch the Sox. If so, new approach needed for certain pitchers.

Reading is a skill. I suggest you use it. The post was directed and addressed to TOM. You had absolutely nothing to do with it in any way, shape or form.

See for yourself… try actually reading it. Contrary to what your ego may be telling you, this blog world does not revolve around you.

I find it “interesting” that the same individual who posted that Brian Anderson wasn’t playing because he wasn’t Hispanic and that at least twice made reference to having sex with an actress from “Saved By The Bell” on this blog (which has nothing to do with baseball) has the gonads to call anyone a “stroke.”

Speaking of “ironic”. I open my Sports Illustrated this afternoon and who do I find on page 21 under ‘who’s not hot’… why Joe Blanton himself.

“His old Kentucky team got beat in it’s NCAA regional, but that’s the least of the A’s right hander’s worries. A 10.29 ERA over three starts helped him become the A.L.’s first 11-game loser. Baseball is a game of inches, he informed the San Jose Mercury News. The inches don’t seem to be going my way.”

Obviously they did last night eh?

I’ll grant you this… Blanton is better then De La Rosa of the Rockies and his 8.13 ERA heading into the Sox game but the results, as was posted earlier, are all that matters. And what matters is the Sox offense keeps disappearing for stretches against the dregs of the league which should not be happening as often as it is.

I think we have the comment of the year (I would do Screech to make it happen). Maria, I think you have created the horrifyingly perfect phrase for the official/unofficial Blog Night T-Shirt. If only it was that easy to win a pennant.

We all know Hawk is the ultimate homer, and bless him for that. But at the end of the game on Friday, when we’re facing the tough (but this year, touchable) Hudson Street, Hawk mentioned on nearly every swing from our batters in the 8th and 9th that they were trying to end the game or tie it with one swing. That is a terrible approach.

Worse, before the 9th the TV truck ran back every pitch Street threw in the 8th and noted how he was constantly going away from every batter. Not a single hitter–he faced six, I believe–tried to go the other way. Crede’s single was to center but the pitch was up and over the plate.

We are still a terribly home run-dependent team. It’s frustrating that we don’t generate runs, but the good news is our pitching staff rocks from 1 to 12 and we hit homers like I do playing Wiffleball in the backyard. So while we’re a one-trick pony offense, in this division that one trick could well keep us on top all summer.

First of all….I wasn’t saying he isn’t playing because he isn’t hispanic. I don’t want him to play no matter what. I was saying the reason that the fans go to bat for Anderson is because he is white.

Maria that was a great comment! haha. I think I am getting the better of that deal with Tiffany Thiessen :)

It doesn’t matter who you are directing your comments to. The fact is Blanton despite his recent struggles is a decent pitcher who can beat a lot of teams. Plus you still disappear when the sox are winning and post 50 times after every loss. Your constant whining and moaning is depressing. Wait til they fall 5 games behind the Twins to be depressing. We are in first place, the weather is beautiful and we have won 7 of our last 10….enjoy yourself for goodness sakes.

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